And finally, one more thing I wanted to review on here - a cassette from the Moscow-based one-man anarcho-black/pagan metal project Ancient Oak, which was released almost two years ago, but made available for straming on bandcamp only recently. "Huldufólk" is entirely instrumental, just like the rest of Ancient Oak's discography (except for "Den Siste Bastion", which featured some really weak vocal work, without which it'd be much better). Instrumental black metal isn't the easiest thing to make insteresting for a listener, but "Huldufólk" manages to be interesting, even if the quality of production is a little bit flaved. The follow-up release for "Huldufólk", titled "Fight The Beast", isn't available online yet, but it can be purchased on CD from the label (Eerie Torture).

So, today is the 6th anniversary of this blog. I started it on 29 September 2009, initially as an offshoot of the "Anarchist Black Metal" last.fm group which I created several months earlier that year. Back then I couldn't have hoped for it to gain the levels of popularity it enjoys by now, but it happened, thanks for all of those who were with me during these years.

The idea of starting something like this blog came to me even earlier, circa 2007, when I was looking for a thing that's nowadays called the "RABM scene" and realized that there wasn't anything like that back then. After a lot of research, the only thing I could find was the "Black Metal Anarchists" group on Myspace, which had surprisingly many members but not a lot of content. This made me believe there was at least some demand for anarcho-BM, while there was almost no supply at all back then (yes, I knew about Iskra and a handful of early blackened crust bands, but that was all).

After I started this blog, it was amazing for me to find out how many people interested in RABM there actually are. I was receiving band/album suggestions on almost daily basis, and pretty quickly it came to the point when I barely could find some free time to review all of them. While only a minority of these bands were "RABM" in strict sense, it was great to see how many black metal fans and artists are trying to challenge the genre's "fascist" reputation. Nowadays, I think "RABM" is already a pretty widely accepted genre definition which is used in a lot of places other than this blog (only 5 years ago, it was used almost exclusively on here), and it even has Wikipedia articles in 4 languages. Probably not the most reliable indication of success, but it still makes me proud of what I've done over these 6 years.

And now here comes the sad part. As you probably have noticed, there isn't as much activity on thing blog as it was before. There are many reasons for that, but it's mostly because I have less and less faith in the "red" and "anarchist" side of things as days pass by. Those who followed my blog during the last couple of years probably remember my observations on how the positions of many self-proclaimed "red"/"anarchist" organizations have changed to something I don't support at all, including stuff which made me feel like like this poster on Revleft who has quit his organization after they took a position of support for Taliban. I also have noticed that even the "radical" leftist positions nowadays seem to be limited to the support for identity politics and some weak form of social democracy, and that many self-proclaimed "anarchists" or "socialists" are essentially indistinguishable from the mainstream US-style liberals. Sorry, but that's something I didn't sign up for at all. Additionally, there's increasingly toxic atmosphere in the Western anarchist scene, more or less accurately described in an anonymous article titled "Things That Anarchists Say to Me in Private But Never Repeat Publicly". If that's really what anarchism is nowadays, then I don't think I want to be a part of it anymore, nor I feel welcome in such a movement anymore.

Of course, I don't regret anything I've done for the RABM scene, and I still think it's important to help its further development, but I no longer want to be someone that does it, for the reasons I've partially described above. Fortunately I've found people who agreed to continue my job with the "Anarchist Black Metal" VK group, and while I have some problems with doing the same for this blog, I think it's safe to assume that my personal mission with RABM is close to being complete. I probably still would post on here in the future, but only on special occasions, leaving most of the job of reviewing new RABM releases to someone else. As for the broken download links in my posts, most of them have been fixed by now (except maybe in the entries about some obscure releases that aren't that essential to the RABM scene). And finally, thanks again for everyone who supported what I was doing over these years, and stay tuned!

Sunday, September 27, 2015

A bit off-topic on here, but this is good music, and its creator apparently reads this blog. I don't think it counts as black metal, but the definitely is significant influence of atmospheric BM, and I'd recommend it mostly to those of my readers who are into post-black metal / blackgaze. The album is almost completely instrumental, although there are some voice samples. The general mood of the album is pretty accurately reflected by the cover artwork, I think.

Until not so long ago, I didn't know there are any RABM festivals in Germany. Turned out there's one, which is going to be held for the 3rd time already: Haglaz Fest III, 16/17 October 2015, AZ Mülheim/Ruhr. Line-up:

Another old school death metal band whose members read and appreciate my blog, this time it's from Italy. They describe their style as "raw old school death metal with some thrash and hardcore influences", which I think is pretty accurate. This particular demo doesn't have political lyrics, but their debut 2008 demo did. They're also are good friends with
Ü and Deiezione HC (local far-left wing hardcore band), and take part in anarcho/benefit gigs in social centers.

bandcamp
A short demo tape from one of my readers in Chile. A mix of old school death and black metal with a healthy dose of punk, influenced by Venom, Hellhammer and Discharge, with lyrics containing social criticism. All the physical copies of the tape are sold out (traded / sent to zines & labels).

Another interesting find from our VK group - a NY-based blackened thrash metal band with an intriguing name and "driving lyrics about issues we face in this world today" (a quote from their bandcamp page). Pretty raw and aggressive stuff, comparable to Infernal Stronghold or Nachzehrer. Like in case with other albums I posted recently without the bands' permission, I'll post only the bandcamp link with streamable tracks, not a direct download link.

The members of this thrash/death band seem to be the real veterans of the metal underground in the Philippines - they're playing metal for about 20 years by now. This particular incarnation of Mass Hypnosia was started in 2009 and released the first full-length album in 2010. Here it is, recommended for those who miss the spirit of late 80's and early 90's thrash metal with a heavy focus on political and societal issues in the lyrics. The band also sent me a promo of their upcoming album "No Mercy For Victory", which you can check out here.

bandcamp
A new EP from Deafest, a nature-inspired atmospheric BM project from Colorado led by Chase, the organizer of the Black Metal Alliance's Crushing Intolerance Anti-NSBM series of compilations. Like their earlier releases, which were also featured on this blog (but by other editors), this EP is fully instrumental. Turns out they also released a split EP w/ Sinding in February, of which I didn't knew about...

bandcamp
The Anarchist Black Metal group, which I mentioned in my previous entry, is doing very good recently. During the last month it became one of my main sources for new music, especially because most of the stuff I receive by email nowadays is not relevant to the topic of this blog at all. This album was also found there, and judging from the band's interview, they explicitly identify themselves as anarchists. Recommended for those who appreciates atmospheric BM with violin. I'm posting this without the band's permission, so there won't be a direct download link, but the whole EP is streamable off bandcamp anyway.

An excellent find, thanks to our Anarchist Black Metal VK group: a folk/black metal band who plays traditional folk songs in Occitan language (the only such band I know of) and has connections to the DIY punk/hardcore scene in Turin. Hopefully it'd be OK to post this EP here without the band's permission because "Lou Quinse support free download, copyleft and free information".

"Lou Quinse, It literally means “The Fifteen” in the Francoprovençal dialect, was born in 2006. The meaning of the name doesnot stop there. The
Fifteen is also the number of the Devil in the tarot cards and with this
name the Devil is known and called in the French-provençal and Occitan
valleys. “Devilish” heavy metal meets a tradition which has never
suffered dogma and impositions.""In 2008 Lou Quinse record their first ep. 5 tracks of Occitan Folk Metal
which mixed up alps tradition with extreme music, become a masterpiece
with songs like "Calant de Villafranca"and "Para lo lop". Five years later the devil return with a deluxe vinyl edition,
remastered by Tino Paratore and a brand new song, "Lo Pal", occitan
extreme version of the antifascist catalan anthem by Luis Llach
"L'estaca"."

The 3rd installment in the "Resistance" series of compilations by The Dark Skies Above Us collective is finally out! As always, it features a lot of RABM-friendly black metal and blackened crust bands, some of which were featured on this blog before, and some weren't. All the revenues from this sampler will go to the Caravana 43 project.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Permafrost (not to be confused with several other BM bands under the same name) are a 3-piece black/doom metal band from Alexandria, Virginia. They have no apprarent connection to RABM but decided to share their debut full-length CD with me anyway, and I must say it's quite good. Actually it was released in January, but I forgot to post it back then :( The album is called "Transitory" and consists of 3 long tracks. The mastering was done by Nikita Kamprad of Der Weg Einer Freiheit, another very good atmospheric BM band which shares at least some of our anti-NSBM sentiment. A bit more detailed review of "Transitory" can be found here.

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About the blog

First of all: there's probably a lot of broken English on this blog. Hope it isn't that bad, at least I'm trying to do my best. Feel free to point me to any of my mistakes, if there are any. -B.K.

If you're playing in a band and want to see your music featured on our blog - just send a download link of your demo to us:

- oiseau [@] riseup [.] net - for basically anything RABM-related, but she is generally interested in atmospheric, depressive, and post-BM stuff, as well as the projects from Latin America (and Mexico in particular). You can also contact her via facebook.

- band name, release name/year, country of origin, album cover image (or at least band photo or logo);

- track listing (properly numbered);

- preferably a full release (not samples or streaming) in mp3/m4a/ogg (128kbps or higher bitrate). You may use any free filesharing site (preferably Mediafire) to host your files; or you can use Bandcamp (but then make sure your release is available for free download). *** NO LARGE ATTACHMENTS PLEASE!!! ***;

- any other info about you and your release (links to any sites related to your band, release notes, etc.);

- reason why you want your music to be featured on our blog (note that it's not just another metal blog, and even if your band is apolitical, it still should be somehow in the spirit of RABM movement).

Most of the uploads here are band sanctioned. Anyway, if you for some reason don't want to see your music here, contact us via email (rabmblog [@] gmail [.] com), and we'll consider taking it down.

If you wish to become a contributor for this blog, send a message to rabmblog [@] gmail [.] com. The obvious requirements are: being supportive of the RABM movement, good proficiency in English, and willingness to review lots of albums on a regular basis.

FAQ

Q.: Which kinds of music are featured on this blog?

A.: - (primarily) RABM or Red & Anarchist Black Metal: all kinds of black metal-related music charged with radical leftist (anarchist, libertarian socialist, eco-anarchist, etc.) political views. Some of the bands featured here may be not openly political, but all of them are RABM-friendly;

- blackened crust/hardcore/punk (only if it's openly RABM-friendly, or if it's just very good music; we have no intention to collect here all the blackened punk in existence);

A.: Most bands nowadays have a bandcamp page, where you can but their stuff online (usually for an arbitrary price). It's the most convinient way to support the band. If your favourite band don't have a bandcamp or bigcartel page, try to find out in which distro you can find their albums/merch. Of course, go to concerts if you have such opportunity.

Q.: How can I offer my financial support to this blog, or the RABM movement in general?

A.: Unfortunately right we don't have an opportunity to accept donations, but we hope we'll be able to set it up soon.

Q.: What is the connection between black metal and hardcore/punk/crust?

A.: It's a well-established fact that the connection between black metal and punk scenes existed since the early days of BM (think Venom, early Bathory, early Mayhem and early Sodom on one side, and Amebix, Discharge and Axegrinder on another). Recently this mix of BM and hardcore punk got a new life in the form of blackened crust (thanks to Black Kronstadt / Iskra in first place). And don't forget about Cascadian black metal bands with their radical environmentalist ideology, often to the extent of radical eco-anarchism or "pro-nature/anti-humanity" ideas.

Q.: What's your main ideology?

A.: This blog is generally written from a position of anarchism without adjectives; however, the RABM scene is very diverse ideologically. Let us end on this, as this blog isn't quite a right place for purely political debates; if you want to learn or argue about anarchism/other ideologies, there's a lot of specialized FAQs/blogs/forums for you.

Q.: Isn't black metal supposed to be apolitical?

A.: Supposed by whom? I personally don't think so, but if you think that political awareness should have no place in "true" black metal, you can feel free to call the bands featured on here "blackened punk" or whatever you want. It should be noted, though, that a lot of these bands doesn't openly talk about politics in their lyrics, exactly because they think it wouldn't be suitable for black metal. - B.K.

Q.: Isn't RABM just an "answer" to NSBM?

A.: While RABM is definitely against NSBM and any other kind of far-right crap in metal scene, it's most emphatically a self-sufficient movement and not any kind of "answer to NSBM". Similarly, while RABM is 100% pro liberation from any kinds of religious tyranny, it isn't a movement against any particular religion (Christianity, Islam, or any other).

Q.: What's your opinion on Satanism?

A.: The so-called "Hollywood Satanism", which is often found in black metal, is, in our opinion, nothing more than inverted Christianity, so we aren't big on it. Many of us are simply atheists, pagans of all kinds, gnostics, etc. We also don't share the notion that only genuine theistic Satanists / Devil-worshippers can play "real" black metal (this would exclude such bands as Venom, Bathory, Immortal, Summoning, and many many others). Additionally, the very term "Satanism" is quite vague, and can't be narrowed down to LaVeyan Satanism (which is heavily disliked by many black metallers), or whatever else. LaVey had some good points, but in general his philosophy can be described just as "Ayn Rand with some occult tinge".

Q.: What about misanthropy and nihilism?

A.: To put it in short: we don't hate everyone and everything (and we don't think there's anyone﻿ who truly does). We just hate these traits of humanity which make true anarchist society most likely infeasible in the foreseeable future.

Q.: Collectivism or individualism?

A.: There actually is no "hard" contradiction between these two terms. Individualism is simply an outlook emphasizes the moral worth of the individual and its right not to be oppressed by the state or some social group. It doesn't contradict at all with standing up for your rights along with a group of like-minded individuals. It also worth noting that the early black metal scene didn't promote individualism that much (see "black metal circles").

Q.: Who coined the term "RABM"?

A.: Hard to say, but there's an apparent similarity to RASH ("Red & Anarchist Skinheads"). Here's the very first mention of "RABM" we could find (August 2005). The term was popularized by our last.fm group (and later - by this blog) since 2009.

Q.: Do you know the ideology of the band X? It isn't obvious if they're NSBM or not...

A.: Sorry, we don't know, do your own research. It's often hard to say anything certain about a band's views, if the members themselves aren't open about it. We also don't advice using various "lists of nazi bands" etc. as a reference, as most of them are full of bullshit. Similarly, forum posts or blog comments (especially anonymous ones) generally aren't a reliable source for anything. In one particular case, we had an anonymous comment claiming that the members of Timebomb are now playing in a fascist band called SPQR. Later it turned out that it were members of a completely other Italian band with a similar name (Timebombs). Hopefully that'd be a good example of how important fact-checking is.

Q.: I've seen some of the albums posted here in the same distro with some albums by right-leaning bands...

A.: Unfortunately it's often the case with distros and labels that distribute stuff regardless of its political affiliation. Even Austin Lunn of Panopticon complained about Pagan Flames (the label which released his "Collapse" and "Social Disservices" LPs) having NSBM in their distro, so things like these are just unavoidable.

Q.: Some bands on this blog have Burzum on their list on influences. Isn't Varg Vikernes a nazi?